


What Goes Around Comes Around

by DuchessRhea



Category: B.A.P, f(x)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 05:51:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19144849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DuchessRhea/pseuds/DuchessRhea
Summary: He was her worst nightmare. When he disappeared, life became easier.She was the one he bullied for childish reasons. When he disappeared, he realized just how childish those reasons were.





	1. 001

Junhong huddled in a corner of the alley, shivering and watching as people walked past in a hurry to get out of the pouring rain. No one gave him even a glance. Everything was so BIG. Objects that he wouldn’t normally have given a second thought startled him. When he’d been walking the streets earlier, before the rain had started, someone had smacked him on the behind with a closed umbrella to shoo him away. Umbrellas were terrifying, he had decided.

 

However, they weren’t as scary as the furry object behind him that he tried to forget about, but would startle him and send a chill up his spine whenever something touched it. A tail. A long, sleek tail.

 

Junhong didn’t know how it happened, but he’d woken up this morning disoriented, and certainly not in his own bed. But the worst part was that he’d woken up not as the human he was, but as a cat. Of all things, a CAT. One of his least favorite animals. He hadn’t been able to take a good look at himself, and to be quite honest, he was too terrified to.

 

So now he, here he was, in an alley, soaked to the bone, with no idea where he was or what to do. Deciding that just staying in one place wouldn't do him any good, he inched his way towards the entrance of the alleyway, peering out and watching as the occasional passerby hurried past, trying to get out of the rain as quickly as possible.

 

"Excuse me..." Junhong called out, and jumped in fright. What came out of his mouth was not the words he was expecting, but instead a series of meows.

 

'Oh right... I'm a cat. Cats don't speak human,' he thought miserably. But a sound had come out of his mouth, and he'd understood it, somewhat.

 

He decided that a sound was better than nothing, even if he wasn't understood.

 

"Hello? Is anyone out there who can understand me?" he practically shouted, the sounds coming out of this mouth startling a younger man walking past, who threw Junhong a dirty glare before picking up his pace.

 

"You know they won't answer you," a voice came from behind him. Junhong twirled around, his hair standing on end. Another cat sat a little ways to the side, peering out from a large dumpster. "I don't even know why you're trying. You should know that," the cat continued. There was derision in his voice. "Unless you're one of those household pets," he spat, disgust lacing his voice.

 

Junhong had no idea how to respond, practically sputtering. "I... No, I'm not... I'm no pet," he finally stuttered. He wasn't a pet, he just had never been a cat before, if that made any sense at all.

 

The other cat eyed him, before leaping out of the dumpster and walking towards him, before proceeding to circle him.

 

"Hmmmm... You certainly don't smell like a pet, but you definitely don't smell like one of us, either," he commented as he studied Junhong. It wasn't hard to guess that "us" meant an alley cat.

 

"No, you smell..." he trailed off, eyes widening. "You smell like one of them," he exclaimed. "You're from the facility, aren't you? You smell like chemicals and... ugh." He wrinkled his nose before turning on his tail. "Well buddy, I guess that means you’re out of luck. Have fun surviving my world," he threw over his shoulder.

 

What the cat said finally sunk in, and Junhong scrambled after him, calling "Wait, wait, what is the facility? What about chemicals?" but the cat was already gone.

 

Junhong stood there numbly, not sure about what to do. The questions never stopped running through his head, the constant repetition of "facility" and "chemicals" never ceasing their mantra.

 

After some time, the rain started to lighten up, and eventually stopped, and this spurred Junhong to leave the alleyway. It wasn't until he passed a bakery that his stomach started growling from hunger. He couldn't remember when he'd had his last meal, especially he couldn't remember what had happened between him going to the bed the previous night (if it had even been the previous night) and waking up in the alleyway as a cat.

 

He stared inside the large glass window, the smell tantalizing and teasing him. He watched as the girl behind the counter handed an elderly woman a bag filled with bread and pastries, and licked his lips. If only he could snatch one of them... But he wouldn't be able to do so without being noticed, so he could only hang his head, the unfamiliar ears on his head drooping.

 

He turned and slowly continued walking, not really paying attention. At some point he found himself at a playground, filled with children running and screaming. The noise hurt his ears, and he realized that his hearing had become more sensitive. Whimpering, he scampered under a bench and huddled there, watching the kids. Soon he found his eyes falling and eventually he let sleep overtake him.

 

Junhong was startled awake by small hands grabbing at his tail. His eyes flew open and a yowl tore through his throat as he backed away from the offending hands.

 

They were the hands of a little girl, who definitely did not look little to Junhong at this angle. She still held onto his tail, and he felt a hiss bubble to the surface. He swiped at the hand, attempting to get free. A cry from the girl as his claws made contact with her hand told him that it had worked, and he back away, his tail curling under him in an attempt to keep it safe.

 

The girl in question ran away crying, leaving Junhong in peace. He wasn't bothered again, but instead of risking it he back into the bushes behind the benches, shivering as droplets of water fell onto him. His stomach growled, reminding him that he still had not eaten. He groaned inwardly, before leaving teh playground to go look for something, anything, he could possibly eat. He didn't care if they were scraps.

 

Scavenging for food in a park was not the easiest thing in the world to do, and eventually he resorted to eating grass, even though it did little to ease the pain in his stomach. In fact, he found himself vomiting it later on.

 

"Note to self, grass is bad," he muttered to himself.

 

Junhong thought the day couldn't get any worse, but he was wrong. So very wrong. Because in the next moment he was startled by a loud barking sound. It took him a second to realize that a very big, brown dog was running at him, tongue lolling to the side, gaze trained on him. At first he didn't think much of it, but then he remembered: he was a cat. And cats and dogs don't get along together. Finally realizing that he may be in danger, and scrambled to find the safest place, which turned out to be a tree. He clawed his way up the trunk, certain he would make it, only to feel a tug on his tail (which was quickly becoming his least favorite part of this new body). Next thing he knew, he was tumbling back down to the ground with a dog towering over him. He cowered, his back to the trunk, ear flattened against his head, and brought up his paw to swipe at the invading nose that was sniffing at him. Claws met nose, and the dog yelped as it whimpered.

 

"Bando! Come back here!" Junhong was saved from certain mauling by a desperate voice calling out what he assumed to be the dog's name. The next second the dog was being pulled away by a leash, and Junhong did the first thing that came to mind; climb the tree again.

 

From his higher vantage point, he watched as a younger man gripped the leash of the dog, who was tugging at it, eyes looking up in the tree.

 

"Henry, wait up!" another, more feminine voice called from behind them. Junhong did a double take when he recognized said female as Amber, one of his coworkers, and secretly his crush.

 

Amber caught up to Henry, out of breath and panting a little.

 

"What the hell happened?" she exclaimed. Henry nodded to the tree where Junhong crouched, answering, "Bando saw a cat. You know how he gets." Amber rolled her eyes, nodding in agreement.

 

Junhong's eyes flitted between the dog and Amber, curiosity nagging at him. Who was this Henry guy to Amber? He watched as they walked off, dragging the dog with them, and went to follow them, only to realize how high he was. He yelped in distress as he flailed around to find purchase in the branch, all the while chanting to himself "Cats always land on their feet, cats always land on their feet." The next moment, he found himself falling, and he desperately twisted hi body trying to get his feet under him. His landing was hard, but he landed on his feet, so his utter relief.

 

He tottered after them, unsteady on his feet, but desperate to catch up with them. He followed them as they wound their way through the park and soon they were back on the streets, no doubt heading home. They stopped in front of an apartment building, where Amber waved goodbye to Henry as he and his dog went inside, before continuing on her way.

 

He continued to trail Amber, gaining curious looks from passerbyers. Despite her being his crush, he didn't really know much about her besides the fact that she was a tomboy. He admitted to sometimes teasing her for being so ungirly, but it was all in good fun, and he knew she didn't care. Nothing seemed to bother the young woman.

 

It wasn't long before she reached her destination, yet another apartment building. He sped up to catch up with her more, only to stop short when Amber suddenly whirled around and looked straight at him.

 

"Why are you following me, little one?" she called to him. He blinked, startled that he'd been caught. She held out her hand, making a clicking noise, as if she were trying to lure him.

 

Junhong scoffed. What did she think he was, a CAT? He cringed, remembering that that's exactly what he was at the moment. Oh the irony.

 

Whatever the case, he didn't care. He trotted up to her and stopped just out of reach, testing to see what she would do.

 

She seemed pleased with herself, and then said, "Hey there, where are you from?" Junhong rolled his eyes. "Do you not have a home?" Well duh, of course he didn't. He wouldn't be following her if he did, now would he?

 

Before he realized what was happening, she pounced and grabbed him from his middle. His first instinct was to squirm, but she held him tight.

 

"I bet you don't have a home. I guess I should take you to a shelter or something," she muttered more to herself.

 

At this, Junhong started squirming even more. This is NOT what he'd be planning on happening. A shelter was the last place he wanted to go to, especially since he didn't know how he got in his position.

 

Amber's grip was firm, and found himself unable to get free from her grasp, and eventually gave up. She took him inside the complex, saying, "Well, it's too late now, and it's probably closed, so I guess you get to stay the night with me."

 

Deciding that that was an improvement, Junhong settled down, relaxing into her hold, enjoying as her fingers absentmindedly stroked his fur. Why did this feel so good? He shivered in pleasure.

 

He almost dozed off as she carried him inside, and he felt a humming bubble up from inside of him, which he realized was purring.

 

Once inside, Amber set him on a couch and scratched him behind the ear, something that Junhong decided might just be his favorite place to be scratched. He sleepily looked up at her as she squatted next to him, as if contemplating what to do.

 

"You're a cute one," she said.

 

"I'm not cute, you idiot," Junhong replied, but is only came out as a meowing sound, something which Amber seemed to find hilarious.

 

"Are you answering me?” she asked. "It's almost as if you understand me."

 

"Of course I understand you. It's not like I’m actually a cat. You're the one who doesn't understand me," he muttered.

 

Amber just laughed, seemingly amused. She patted him on the head, making Junhong wrinkled his nose in distaste, before leaving the room.

 

Curiosity suddenly overcame him and he leapt up to explore this place. He might as well take advantage of this opportunity to explore his crush's home. It's not like he'd ever get the chance to again.

 

Junhong soon discovered that the apartment actually was quite similar to his own, in which it had just one bedroom and one bathroom, but a nice spacious living room attached to a quaint little kitchen. The door to the bedroom was almost shut, so he pushed it open with his head, determined to see the inside.

 

What he saw instead was Amber in nothing but a bra and her jeans. She glanced down at him, not even caring as she continued to rummage through her closet for another shirt.

 

Junhong, on the other hand, froze, his eyes widening. If he'd been human still, his entire face and ears would have been red with embarrassment. He would have backed out of the room, except Amber walked over and decided to pick him up, still only in her bra, and looked him in the eye. Junhong's eyes strayed lower down her chest before flicking back up to look at her.

 

"Well aren't you a little pervert?" Amber commented, a smile on her face, not bothered at all. Instead she dropped him on her bed before resuming her search for a shirt. Once she'd found one and put it on, she jumped on her bed, causing the bed to bounce and Junhong to wobble unsteadily on his feet.

 

She reached for the phone that was perched on the bedside table and started browsing it. Junhong peeked over her shoulder to see what she was looking on, and was startled to see his own name on the screen.

 

Suddenly very interested, he leaned into Amber and scanned the contents.

 

'Still any news about Junhong?' was the first texts he could see. Amber's reply was 'Nope, nothing. But srsly why r u asking me? u know i don't care.' Junhong felt his insides twist at that. 'Cuz I already asked the rest of the office,' was the reply. Amber hadn't replied yet, and it didn't seem like she was any time soon.

 

"Why're you so interested in my phone, hmmmm?" Amber's voice startled Junhong, and he guiltily backed away.

 

"Nothing important. Just stupid work stuff," she said offhandedly. "A stupid coworker deciding to go MIA, not that I'm surprised. The bastard is a lazy piece of shit with no morals." She muttered that last comment.

 

Junhong whimpered, not at all happy to hear that his biggest crush was talking shit about him. What had he done to deserve it?

 

Trying to ignore it, he instead focused on the fact that the office was already missing him. Which meant that he must have been gone for longer than one night, especially considering he didn't have work that day; he wouldn't have been missed for at least three days, since the last day he remembered was a Thursday. So he'd been missing for at least three days, if not more.

 

Junhong worked a boring desk job as a marketer for deodorant. Up until now, his life consisted of meetings discussing the fragrances that would attract buyers, catchy names that would attract more buyers, and over viewing commercials that would attract even more buyers. It was a tedious job, but it paid well enough.

 

Amber also worked in the same department as him, except she spent most of her time catering to the department head, as she was his secretary. But she also had the benefit of making numerous connections, and she was well-known within the company, as well as with marketing departments of other companies that they worked with.

 

Yeah, so maybe it was boring, but it paid a decent salary, so Junhong didn't complain. How else would he afford to live in his own apartment in a nicer side of town? An apartment that he might never see again.

 

Amber rolled over, almost squishing Junhong, who practically yowled and jumped out of the way.

 

"Watch where you're going, dumbass!" he snarled, not appreciating that she'd almost squashed him. Amber ignored him.

 

Finally bored, he jumped off the bed (not before making sure to walk over Amber's soft parts) and left the room, continuing his exploration. The bathroom was his next stop, and for a second the height of the sink towered over him, making him hesitate for a second.

 

'Okay, I'm a cat. Cats can jump really high, right? So theoretically I could jump this...' His thoughts raced, and for a split second he thought about jumping, but chickened out at the last moment.

 

Instead he took the easier route, by jumping onto the closed toilet seat (he made sure it was covered before he jumped) and then onto the counter.

 

For the first time, he got to see what he actually looked like now.

 

In front of him was a grey and white cat. What were those cats called again? Junhong didn't really care. He wasn't a cat person. He studied himself in the mirror, noticing that one of his front paws was white, the other grey, making it look like he had mismatched socks. Both his eyes were a dirty green, slightly hazel color, and there was a random black spot on his otherwise pink nose. He knew that would bother him every time he would look at himself in a mirror.

 

Finally finished memorizing his new appearance, Junhong jumped off the counter (though it took him a couple seconds to work up the courage to jump) and headed back to the front room. He returned to the couch, curling up and taking a nap.

 

He could only hope that Amber would change her mind about the animal shelter tomorrow, but at least today he had a soft and comfortable place to sleep.

 

He didn't care that it was still the middle of the day; the sun was shining on him, and it was warm; this called for a cat nap.


	2. 002

Junhong must have passed out, because when he woke up, it was almost light outside. Disoriented, he hopped off of the couch and went to the bedroom to see what Amber was doing.

 

He probably should have looked at the clock, because when he walked into her room, she was clearly fast asleep, half of her covers on the ground.

 

'This girl is so messy, I swear,' Junhong thought. He walked over to the side of the bed and sat next to it, just studying her face. Not long after, Amber started stirring. Not opening her eyes, she yawned and stretched an arm over to her bedside table rummaging for some - most likely her phone - and instead came in contact with fur.

 

Her eyes cracked open to find her hand on top of Junhong, who looked ready to flee.

 

"Whaaaa..." she mumbled, half asleep. ”What're you do'n here," she mumbled, still half asleep.

 

Junhong laughed silently, the sight before him much too amusing. He decided to help the process and jumped onto the bed, barely making move. He proceeded to walked across her body, eliciting a grown from the young woman. He sat down on her back, and started swatting at her head.

 

After a few swipes, he heard grumbles and the body beneath him started shifting, causing him to lose his balance. He tumbled down the side of the bed, the blanket providing a slide of some sorts. Regardless, he landed on his feet.

 

Amber abruptly sat up, he eyes still close, her hair a mess, and the last of the blankets on the bed slid to the ground at Junhong's feet. He stared at her as she reached for her phone (not without accidentally swiping some random items on the side table to the ground), and brought it to her face to check the time. She groaned, and finally opened her eyes, only to glare at Junhong.

 

"My alarm hasn't even gone off, why did you wake me up?" she muttered, annoyance lacing her voice, before proceeding to fall back onto her pillow, desperate to get at least a few more minutes of sleep.

 

Junhong just shook his head. He should have figured that the tomboy was a grouchy morning person. He shrugged, not blaming her. Instead he curled up on the soft bed her discarded blankets had made on the ground, and dozed off next to her.

 

He was rudely awakened by an alarm blaring in his ears. He jumped up in alarm, fur standing on end, and hissed at the offender, which turned out to be Amber's phone, which had fallen next to him on the ground. Now Junhong was grumpy too, and decided it wasn't fair that he was the only one who was rudely awakened, especially considering the alarm hadn't done much to wake up Amber.

 

So he jumped onto her stomach, and kneaded her stomach to the point where he was sure it would be painful.

 

The results were instantaneous: she gasped for breath and instinctively covered her stomach to fend off his attacks. He ducked to avoid her swats at him and jumped off the bed, giving up on her. He went back to the front room and got back onto the couch to wait.

 

It wasn't for another ten minutes that Amber finally emerged from her room, still in her sleepwear, and shuffled to the bathroom. Less than a minute later she was out, her unruly bed-hair tamed by the water she'd obviously ran through it, and the sleep gone from her eyes.

 

She trudged over to the kitchen, opened a cabinet to retrieve a box of cereal, milk from the fridge, and a bowl from another cabinet, and making her breakfast.

 

Junhong suddenly realized that he hadn't had anything substantial to eat in a long time, and hunger is what brought him over to the table and pawing at Amber's exposed leg.

 

She looked down at him, her eyes blank before recognition overcame them, as if she was only now remembering the animal she'd taken home the previous night.

 

"Are you hungry, hmmm?" she asked him. Junhong rolled his eyes. Obviously, considering she hadn't thought to give him anything last night.

 

She stood up and went to the pantry, and after digging around a while, she found a can of what looked like--

 

"Tuna? Really? You're going to give me tuna?" he asked, incredulous. Of course she didn't understand him. Junhong hated tuna. He hated fish, period.

 

So imagine his surprise when an amazing smell wafted down to his nose after she opened the can.

 

"Why the hell does that smell so good?" he demanded. She merely set it down in front of him before going back to her own breakfast.

 

He only stared at it, confused and slightly annoyed that the tuna smelled so damn good, yet it was one of his least favorite things to eat.

 

Hunger overtook him, and he found himself devouring the disgusting meal. His body said otherwise, and minutes later he was batting Amber's leg, demanding more. She glanced down, rolled her eyes, then went to the pantry to retrieve two more cans.

 

"You act as if you haven't eaten in ages, yet you look healthy and like you've been well fed. Strange," she commented as she dumped both cans into a larger bowl and set it down on the ground.

 

Junhong ignored her and went back to the food, the hunger pangs subsiding as he filled his stomach.

 

He could feel Amber watching him, having already finished her breakfast, and after a few seconds, he stopped eating to look up at her.

 

Her stare unnerved him, and he shrunk a bit under her gaze, suddenly very aware that she was probably deciding his fate that that very moment.

 

She'd finished eating, Junhong noticed, and he unconsciously slowed down, hoping that if he took longer to finish, she'd change her mind about taking him to a shelter.

 

"You finish that, and then we're taking you to someplace better," she said as she hopped out of her seat and dumped her dish into the sink.

 

As soon as she was out of sight in her room, he gobbled up the rest of his food then dashed to find the best hiding place.

 

'I'm a cat, so I can fit in the smallest of spots,' he thought to himself. He'd always thought cats were the weirdest animals because of the way they could contort themselves to fit in the weirdest of places.

 

He soon found himself crouching under the couch, and by the time he heard Amber emerging from her room, he had made himself quite comfortable.

 

"What the-" she exclaimed. "Where the hell are you?" she muttered. "It's almost as if you understand that you're going somewhere."

 

'Well duh, of course I understood. And a shelter is the last place I wanna be,' Junhong thought.

 

After a series of shuffling sounds, he soon found himself looking at Amber's face as she peered under the sofa.

 

"There you are, you little troublemaker," she said. "Come on, come out, won't you? We need to leave!" She reached out a hand to grab him, but he just backed up more.

 

Frustrated, she retracted her hand and stood up. Junhong warily watched her feet as they moved to the side of the sofa. Before he realized what was happening, the couch was being lifted and moved.

 

Suddenly he was exposed, and he dashed out through Amber's feet, feeling air hit his back as she dropped the sofa and dived to catch him. He barely escaped, heading for the next place he could find, which turned out to be under the kitchen table. His escape was short lived, because the next thing he new, Amber had him by the scruff and was picking him up.

 

"Oh stop it. You're going no matter what," she said.

 

Twenty minutes later they were walking into the shelter, Junhong finally resigning himself to his fate.

 

He zoned out, not really listening to the conversation Amber was having with one of the workers, until she raised her voice. He looked up at her face, and noticed that her face looked almost stricken. Clearly the worker had said something that shook her.

 

"What do you mean?" she demanded.

 

"We don't have room for him, so most likely he'll just be put down. One less stray on the streets, you know what I mean?" the worker said drily. Junhong stiffened, realizing what this meant.

 

"No, I don't know what you mean. That's just not right," she huffed. With that, she turned on her heel and marched out.

 

"There is no way I'm letting them kill an animal just because there isn't space," she muttered angrily. "I hope you're happy living with me," she said to him. Relief flooded through him. He wouldn't be dying today.


	3. 003

By the end of the week Junhong had, for the most part, gotten the hang of his new feline form. He still had absolutely no idea how the hell he ended up as a cat, but the words of that alley cat haunted him.

 

What had he meant by the “facility,” and why did he think Junhong smelled like chemicals? The first thing that came to mind was a hospital, but he’d quickly ruled that out. His second thought was some place doing experiments on humans, and that idea seemed to stay in his head. Had he been an experiment? If so, why him? He’d understand if he’d been in a seedy area when he was kidnapped, but his last memory was of sleeping in his own bed, which meant he’d been taken from his own bed. That meant he specifically had been targeted.

 

But that never-ending question: Why him?

 

He needed to find that alley cat again so he could find out where this “facility” was.

 

Mind made up, he headed to the door, only to realize he couldn’t get out. His paws didn’t allow him to turn the knob that was Amber’s front door. Frustrated, he decided to wait for Amber to return from work so he could slip out the door.

 

He sat in front of the door for who knows how long, and ended up dozing off. Was it normal for cats to sleep this much? Junhong didn’t care. If there was one good thing about being a cat, it was that he could sleep wherever, whenever, and however long he wanted to. He was startled awake by the rattling of the door, and he jumped up, ready to make his escape as soon as it opened.

 

However, as soon as the door opened, a foot appeared, hindering his escape. It pushed him back until the rest of the body was inside the door and it was shut tight. Amber stared down at him, an amused smile on her face.

 

“Why did I know you would be trying to get out?” she chided. Junhong’s ear flattened against his head, making his annoyance clear. She laughed as she kicked her shoes off and dumped her backpack on the floor.

 

He never understood why she brought a backpack to work. Was a briefcase more professional? He admitted that he sometimes teased her about this.

 

Her hands free, Amber stooped down and scooped Junhong into her arms, cradling him like you would a baby.

 

“Now why would you want to leave, hmmm? Got some girlfriend to go to?” she joked. She scratched behind his ear, and the sensation was blissful; he still wasn’t used to how good it felt. He felt his annoyance slip away as he nuzzled into her hand, that vibrating sound bubbling up from his throat unintentionally.

 

Amber’s smile turned hard as she set him down on the couch. She flattened herself onto the floor, stretching her body out and letting a groan escape her lips.

 

“Ugh today has terrible,” she began. Junhong sighed, settling in for a long rant. Over the last few days, he’d realized that Amber liked to rant about work a lot, and she’d done so already three times this week.

 

“Where the hell is that bastard? He goes missing for a week and now ALL of his work is being piled onto me! Is this his ultimate way of picking on me, huh?” she bit out. She glanced over at the cat, then added, “Did I ever tell you about that bastard?” She didn’t wait for an acknowledgement and continued on.

 

“His name is Junhong, and he is possibly the biggest bully out there. I don’t know what his problem is, but ever since he joined the company he’s mocked me, humiliated me, and degraded me to the point that I almost had to get fucking therapy. Therapy!” Junhong cringed. He wasn’t that bad! He never humiliated her, and when had he degraded her? He couldn’t recall at all.

 

“Oh, you’ll never hear him admit it,” she continued, “Hell, he probably thinks it was all just a joke, but goddammit, do you know how humiliating it is for someone to tell you you’re using the wrong bathroom, when your boss is right there? It’s fucking humiliating.” Junhong’s eyes widened, remembering that encounter. He’d only been teasing her, and she always seemed unaffected by it, so he assumed she was fine. But he didn’t know that their boss had been there. The guilt crashed down on him, and he sank onto his hackles, curling his tail under him.

 

“You know what? I don’t care that’s he’s missing. I hope he’s dead in a ditch somewhere. That bastard deserves it,” she finally exclaimed.

 

However just seconds later, she added in a quieter voice, “Okay, no, I don’t hope that. He may be the biggest scum on the earth, but he doesn’t deserve to die. I just hope karma bites him in the ass and he gets every little thing returned back to him.”

 

Junhong stared at her, not sure whether to be terrified of her fury, or relieved that she didn’t hate him so much to wish death on him. He honestly had not realize she hated him that much. All he wanted was for her to pay attention to him, to notice him. But clearly he’d gone about it in the wrong way. He cringed, realizing that his tactics resembled a kindergartener’s method of pulling his crush’s pigtails; it never worked.

 

Amber wasn’t done, however, and he jumped when she shouted out in anger, “But gives him no excuse to fucking leave his work unfinished and force me to take on his load! I mean seriously! Why did the boss have to give me all of his work? It’s not fair, goddammit!”

 

Junhong whimpered, trying to make himself smaller on the couch. Maybe it was a good thing he was a cat right now, and not himself.

 

Amber let out a sigh, before sitting up. “Wow I feel better already,” she muttered. “Thanks, boy,” she said, reaching out her hand to ruffle his head. Junhong shrank away, suddenly scared of that hand. She raised an eyebrow, commenting, “What are you so afraid of? It’s not like you did anything, or I’m mad at you.”

 

If only she knew.


	4. 004

Weeks passed, and Junhong still hadn’t been able to escape the apartment. Amber had gotten very good at foiling his every attempt to slip between her legs. After the fifth day he gave up, mainly because he realized that she anticipated him trying to escape, and figured that if he waited a bit she’d let her guard down.

 

Instead he mulled over the revelation that had been Amber’s hatred for him. If– no, when– he turned back into a human being, he would do everything in his power to change her opinion of him. He knew he’d have a long way to go before that would happen, though. He wasn’t even sure he’d even have a job by then; he had, after all, been missing for over a month now and his boss was not really the forgiving type (though she did have a soft spot for him, something he used to take advantage of quite often).

 

His ears twitched when he heard the familiar footfalls indicating that Amber was approaching the door, but he didn’t move from his curled-up position on the couch. He lazily opened one eye as the door opened, revealing a downcast expression he was not used to seeing on Amber. He was even more surprised when she came and picked him up, sat down on the couch, and laid him back down on her lap, mindlessly petting him.

 

Clearly something had happened, and he was getting more and more curious as minutes passed and she said nothing.

 

Finally, she broke the silence.

 

“Hey boy, I think I did something really bad,” she started quietly. “Like, life-changing bad.”

 

Junhong looked up at her, blinking. This, he did not expect. “What’d you do?” he asked, though it only came out as a meow to Amber’s ears.

 

She finally looked down at him. “So you remember that asshole at work? I may have destroyed his life unintentionally.”

 

Suddenly Junhong was at full attention. She was talking about him. Did she know something about his situation?

 

“I met up with my uncle today, and he was asking about Junhong, whether I’d seen him recently. I mean, I said no, cuz he’s been missing for, like a month now. But he kept asking questions, like where Junhong usually hung out, places he frequented, things like that. I mean, I have no idea. I avoided him as much as possible outside of work,” she muttered that last part more to herself.

 

Junhong was confused. Why was her uncle asking about him? What did he have to do with all of this?

 

“I mean, I know I told him about Junhong before; I’ve complained about him plenty of times before. But why is he so interested in him? I mean, I told him he went missing.”

 

Junhong suddenly had a very bad feeling about this. Was it possible her uncle had something to do with what happened to him?.

 

“Uncle did mention he had made a new discovery, though he hadn’t been able to test it. I wonder what it was…” She sighed. “I just hope that my theory is wrong, because I really don’t wanna feel sorry for that bastard. Or be indirectly responsible for his disappearance. Uncle wouldn’t do that, right?” she asked, as if trying to reassure herself.

 

Now Junhong knew he had to get out of the apartment and find that alley cat. All the signs pointed to him being an experiment of some sort, and chances are that Amber’s uncle was the one responsible. It would also explain why he had been chosen, of all people.

 

Amber slept fitfully that night, Junhong noticed, because she tossed and turned so often that he gave up sleeping next to her, like he had gotten used to, and moved to the couch.

 

The following day was a Saturday, which meant that Amber would be staying home all day. She was distracted for most of the day, which is probably why, when she left to go to the convenience store down the road, it was ridiculously easy to slip through her legs and out the door. He ignored her shout of alarm, and ran as fast as he could out of the complex.

 

It took him a good part of three hours to retrace his steps back to the alley that he’d met the alley cat, and when he finally arrived, he called out, “Hey, Mr. Alley Cat, are you there? I need to talk!” His cry went unanswered, so he settled down to wait. He didn’t have to wait long before he saw said cat appear on the fence at the end of the alley, a piece of rotting fish in his mouth.

 

The cat stopped for a second when he saw Junhong, before ignoring him as he returned to the dumpster Junhong had first seen him in.

 

Junhong approached the dumpster hesitantly, before calling out, “Hey, uh, sorry to bother you, but, uh, can we talk?” The cat looked down at him and sneered.

 

“Ah, the smelly one is back. And pray tell, what does a domestic house pet want to ask me? Looks like you’ve found yourself a nice little place to live,” he drawled.

 

Junhong hesitated before replying, “Last time, you mentioned a facility. Do you know where it is? What they do there?”

 

“Kid, why would I know what they do there? That place reeks. D'ya think I’d go anywhere near it?” the cat retorted.

 

“Then you know where it is!” Junhong exclaimed.

 

The cat sniffed. “Of course I know where it is. Your nose would have to be broken to not smell it. You can smell that place from a mile away.”

 

Junhong was ecstatic; finally, he was getting somewhere! “Can you take me there?” he asked eagerly.

 

The cat stared down at him in disdain. “And why should I do that? What do I get out of it, hmmm? You’ve got nothing to offer me. Plus, no one goes near that place. You think we wanna die?” he bit out.

 

Junhong’s ears drooped. “Well, then, can you at least tell me where I can find it? Something? Anything? Please?” he begged.

 

The alley cat studied him for a moment. Y’know what, kid, how about this. You look pretty desperate, so I’ll take you close enough that you can smell your way there on your own. I ain’t going any closer than that,” he offered. Junhong nodded his head frantically.

 

“But I ain’t going anywhere near there at this time of night. That’s when they go hunting. Come back here tomorrow morning and then I’ll take you, deal?” he said.

 

Junhong was impatient to get there, but this was probably the best he was going to get, so he agreed in resignation.

 

“It’s a date, then. See you in the morning. If your human will let you escape again.” The alley cat cackled, as if knowing exactly how Junhong came to be here in the first place.

 

Junhong paused. That’s right, if he went back to Amber’s apartment now, chances are that she would be much more careful about keeping him inside. He wouldn’t be able to escape, most likely. His only option was to sleep outside.

 

But he was worried about Amber. His last image of her was her frantic face as she ran after him. She was probably really worried. He could only imagine her desperately looking for him.

 

He gave one last look at the alley cat, before turning on his heels and running back to her complex (though he took care to memorize the route). He stopped once he was in front of it, and looked up at the window to her apartment. The light was off, which either meant she was asleep, or not home.

 

His ears twitched as he heard a distant call, and he glanced around to see Amber and that one guy who’d been with her the day she found Junhong running around frantically.

 

He hid in a bush as they passed.

 

“Hey boy, where are you? Kitty?” Amber called out quietly, obviously trying not to be too loud and disturb the neighbors.

 

“I still don’t get how you didn’t think to give him a name,” the guy said. “It would have made this a lot easier.”

 

“Shut up, Henry. I didn’t think about it, okay?” she huffed. “I’ll give him a name once we find him.”

 

“IF we find him,” Henry muttered. Amber jabbed him in the ribs.

 

“Don’t jinx it, asshole,” she ground out.

 

Junhong watched as they got further away, splitting up to continue their search. He felt a pang of guilt, because chances are that he wouldn’t come back, if he could figure out what happened, and reverse the effects.

 

But he had to do this. There was no way he wanted to spend the rest of his life as a cat.

 

So he turned around and headed back to the alley to camp out for the rest of the night. Tomorrow would bring many changes. Whether they would be good or bad, Junhong wasn’t entirely sure.


	5. 005

Junhong woke up the next morning to a ray of sun blinding him in the eye. He groaned, lifting a paw to cover his face, feeling like he’d barely slept an hour. He eventually gave up on sleep, and groggily got up, stretching his limbs (something he had come to love doing since becoming a cat). He trotted over to the dumpster, jumping up to glance in. However, it was empty, and Junhong immediately started panicking. Had the alley cat abandoned him, with no intention to help him, after all?

 

However, his panic was short-lived, because minutes later the alley cat returned. He gave Junhong a cursory look, then trotted towards the fence dividing the alleyway in half.

 

“Ready, kid?” he called over his shoulder, causing Junhong to scrambled to catch up.

 

They travelled for what seemed like ages, leaving the busy, populated part of the city and travelling into quieter, suburban neighborhoods. Once they’d passed the neighborhoods of large houses, unhong’s nose started twitching. A new scent drifted through the air, and he paused for a second to fully take it in. The alley cat glanced behind him, and noting Junhong’s reaction, remarked, “That’s the facility smell. Well, a bit of it, anyways. If that bothers you, you’re outta luck.”

 

Junhong just wrinkled his nose and continued on without complaint, because he recalled the cat saying that he wouldn’t go any further once they started smelling their destination. He wasn’t about to remind his guide of this.

 

However, it wasn’t long before they stopped, and the alley cat turned to him. “You smell that?” he started, to which Junhong put his nose in the air and immediately regretted the long sniff he took. The scent had magnified at some point, though Junhong hadn’t realized until now.

 

“That’s the smell you want to follow. I ain’t going any further,” he muttered. He turned on his tail and bounded away, turning only to give Junhong one last remark. “Kid, good luck. You’ll need it in that damn place. Nothing good ever happens there.” With that, he disappeared.

 

Junhong gulped, but kept going, following the scent that rapidly became unbearable. It took him through a barren field (which to him, seemed ominous) and through a line of trees that sloped into a gentle hill. On the other side of the hill the trees stopped abruptly, giving way to a high fence, behind which was a stone wall. It reminded Junhong of a prison, and he shuddered to think what could possibly happen in there that would require such a heavy stone wall. From his angle, he could see the pure white building it protected. It looked ordinary, like any other building, except for the large tower that rose up through the middle. On closer inspection, Junhong realized that it wasn’t a tower, but instead some sort of rod.

 

Junhong circled the entire facility, trying to find some way in. He found a small hole in the fencing, just big enough for him to slip through, but that’s as far as he got. The only entrance through the giant wall was a giant metal door he’d spotted on the far side, and it looked like the only way in or out was through a marked vehicle, which he’d spotted leaving.

 

He figured his best bet would be to wait for a car to come by, then sneak through the gate with it, so he settled himself down next to the gate, hidden by the dry grass and weeds that were growing along the wall.

 

Junhong ended up dozing off; the sun’s warmth had lulled him to sleep, and he was only pulled out of it by the sound of an engine approaching. He blinked awake, noting that the sun was no longer shining on him, blocked by the wall, which meant quite some time had passed.

 

He studied the large truck as it passed the fence and approached the wall. After a minute of waiting, Junhong practically felt the vibrations of the gate as they swung inwards. Taking the chance, he scampered in as the truck drove through, flinching only slightly when the large door slammed shut behind the truck.

 

He was in.

 

Junhong scanned the area around him, and watched as the truck stopped in front of the white building. He ran over and hid under the truck. He watched as the door opened to reveal two people dressed in all white, and looking an awful lot like the scientists he’d seen in movies. The driver got out of the truck and opened the back, and the three proceeded to unload the items.

 

Junhong waited until the coast was clear before slipping in the door, though he jumped at the sound of the metal gate opening, signaling that someone was entering the complex again. He hurriedly disappeared inside, not wanting to get caught by the newcomers.

 

He wandered the corridors for a while, which weren’t as light as he’d expected them to be; considering the bright white of the exterior, he’d expected the interior to have a similar bright white theme going on. Instead, the hallways were dim, with dimmer embedded on the walls rather than typical fluorescent lights on the ceiling.

 

He was expecting to run into people, but luck seemed to be on his side; not once did he come across anyone. However, this only made him more nervous. He also had yet to find anything that wasn’t corridor. Were there no rooms or offices in this complex? He knew he was getting more and more lost the more turns he made onto various hallways; this place was a maze. Every so often when he turned a corner he spied little knobs jutting out of the wall, just above his head. He had no idea what they were for, but he didn’t swell on it.

 

He probably spent a good half hour just walking around trying to find ANYTHING. Perhaps he should have waited and followed one of those people at the entrance. They clearly knew where they were going.

 

After some time, Junhong’s ears picked up sound coming from his left; someone was coming. He huddled into a corner, hoping the shadows would conceal him, and waited. He would follow whoever this person was.

 

It wasn’t long before the person arrived; it turned out to be the man who’d initially opened the doors to the facility. He was carrying a large box, and Junhong could tell he was straining from the weight. After the man passed, he followed quietly. After a few expert turns, they arrived at what looked like the center of the maze; there were at least four hallways leading to this place. At the center, however, was two elevators. They were transparent, other than a thick black strip which reached the man’s knee, that ran around the bottom of each elevator.

 

The elevator dinged and opened, and Junhong followed the man in, thanking whoever was watching over him that the large box kept the man from seeing what was directly below him, a.k.a. an intruding cat, as well as the black strip for concealing said cat from whomever might look into the elevator once it reached its destination.

 

The elevator jolted, and like he suspected, started to descend. ‘So the facility is all underground? That explains why there was nothing up there,’ he thought to himself. Perhaps the maze above was meant to confuse intruders. However, it would take quite a lot for any intruder to get past the amount of security the giant stone wall provided. The entire area was deserted. How would anyone know if someone had managed to enter the top floor of the facility?

 

Junhong didn’t have long to dwell on it, because the elevator slowed down. He could no longer see out through the walls, instead seeing the grey stone of the wall surrounding the three sides. The doors opened and he quickly followed the man out, careful not to get trampled by his feet. He turned the corner and was met with similar hallways; however, they were much more lit, and unlike the upper level, the ceiling here was easily twice the height.

 

He followed the man until he turned into a doorway and slammed the door shut behind him. Probably a storage section. Instead, Junhong continued to wander the hallways, peeking into each doorway that was open; however, most of them were closed, and Junhong was far too small to be able to reach the doorknobs.

 

As he was passing one particular doorway, however, a voice caught his attention. He peeked around the corner and spotted a man standing behind a desk, on the phone, looking rather frustrated. For a second Junhong thought he looked familiar, but he couldn’t recall ever seeing the man before.

 

“What do you mean you’re outside? I told you that outsiders aren’t-“ The man stopped abruptly, having been cut off by whomever was on the other end. “Look, Josie, I know you’ve got questions, but can’t it wait until I’m finished here?”

 

The man continued to argue with the person on the other line for about another minute as Junhong took in the room. There was a low coffee table situated in front of the desk, surrounded by four small but comfortable-looking armchairs, and a potted plant in one corner, though it looked neglected and dying.

 

Junhong got bored with the conversation fairly quickly, and turned to leave, but only took a few steps before something clicked in his head. He whirled around and peeked back in, studying the man. Now he realized why the man seemed familiar; he’d seen a photo of this man among the many photos Amber had in her apartment. This could only mean one thing: this was Amber’s uncle.

 

Not believing his luck, he slipped into the room and hid under the coffee table, and not a moment too soon, because someone else came in the room, knocking on the already open door out of courtesy.

 

“Director, security alerted me that there’s an unknown car that drove through the fence gate and is sitting in front of the main gate,” the woman, who was wearing similar clothes to the earlier people Junhong had seen, seemed rather hesitant.

 

Amber’s uncle cursed under his breath, before motioning her to hold on.

 

“AMBER JOSEPHINE LIU. Did you really have to crash through the fence?!” he shouted through the receiver, his face becoming red. He was clearly not happy with the response that he got, because he angrily hung up the phone. Turning to his colleague, he said in an exasperated tone, “It’s my niece. Let her in and bring her straight to my office.”

 

The woman left quickly to do so, and he sat down heavily in his chair, running his hands through his hair.

 

“That girl will be the death of me,” he muttered under his breath, though Junhong still caught it.

 

Junhong’s mind raced. Amber was here? So she really did have something to do with the situation he was in. He scoffed in disbelief.

 

It wasn’t long before the woman was back, with Amber in tow. Junhong inhaled the familiar scent of the girl he liked, realizing that he’d missed it more than he probably should have.

 

The woman left, closing the door behind her, and Amber was the first to speak. Junhong always knew she was blunt and to the point, but he was startled by the first thing to come out of her mouth.

 

“Did you do something to Junhong?” she demanded.

 

Her uncle also seemed to be caught off guard. “You get right to the point,” he commented grimly.

 

She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring holes into his head, causing him to back down.

 

“Josie, sit down. It’s a long story,” he finally answered.

 

Junhong scrambled to keep out of the way of getting kicked by feet as both sat down at the coffee table.

 

“You know what my work is, right?” he started off. Amber nodded.

 

“I’m a scientist. We create invent things, we discover things. Remember when I told you we’d made a new discovery in the human body?” he asked, and she nodded again.

 

“Well, about a year ago we found a new gene in the human body. The thing is, this gene is usually only found in animals. The thing is, it’s not just one animal gene. We noticed that each person has a different gene in them. Almost as if that was their animal counterpart, get it? So what would happen if we could manipulate that gene? What would happen? Would they turn into that animal? It was fascinating really. We just had no way of testing that out. No one would volunteer for that kind of project, and the government certainly wouldn’t allow it.”

 

“So instead you decided to go around kidnapping people and using them as test subjects,” Amber stated flatly.

 

Her uncle didn’t seem at all fazed, though, at her accusation. Instead he shrugged. “We took people who wouldn’t be missed. Mainly homeless folks,” he said offhandedly.

 

“And yet Junhong is not homeless, and he was most definitely missed,” she shot back. Said boy under the table seemed oddly touched. She was actually worried about him? In all the time he’d heard her talk about him, she’d made it clear that she loathed him.

 

“Josie, why are you so concerned about him? Last I heard he was your mortal enemy. Weren’t you the one who asked me if there was a way to get him out of your life completely?” Her uncle asked.

 

“I didn’t think you’d take it seriously and use him as a test subject! I may hate him, but I wouldn’t want to subject anyone to being an experiment,” she practically shouted. It was silent for a moment, before she quietly asked, “Did it work? Did the experiment work?”

 

‘Clearly it had,’ Junhong thought, ‘considering I’m stuck as a cat.’

 

“Yes and no.” Amber’s uncle answered. “The experiment was to see if we could manipulate the gene both ways. We were half successful; most of the homeless folks became a variety of animals. However,” he grimly added, “we couldn’t reverse the effects. As far as I know, the gene disappeared when they became animals. So now we have a zoo down here, and we have no idea what to do with them. We haven’t done anymore gene manipulations for about a month now.”

 

A month. That’s about the time when he woke up that fateful night in the alley.

 

“So you’re telling me there’s no way to reverse the effects?” Amber demanded. “Then what happened to Junhong?!”

 

“Ah, yes. Bully boy. He, uh, somehow escaped. We have no idea how. It’s been about a month, and we’re still looking for that damn cat,” he said. “But suffice to say, he’s never going to be human again. Even if we did figure out how to reverse the effects, now that he’s missing, it wouldn’t even matter. He’s just going to become a face on a milk carton.”

 

Junhong was numb. There was no cure? He was stuck as a cat for the rest of his life? Junhong felt his life shatter in front of him. His mind swirled with so many thoughts. What would happen when his parents finally realized he was missing? Well, at least he wouldn’t have to deal with the backlash from his boss. Not that that was important anymore. He’d never be able to make things right with Amber, even though she was right in front of him.

 

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he barely registered Amber and her uncle leaving the room.

 

“I’m doomed,” he mumbled.

 

He stumbled out of the room, and somehow found his way to the elevator, which just happened to open as someone scurried out, their nose in a file. How he got through the maze was beyond him, but the door to the outside was shut tight, leaving him trapped at the entrance. Eventually it was opened from the outside, and he raced out, causing the person responsible to yelp in surprise. The metal gate was closing, so he picked up his pace and barely made it through before it slammed shut behind him. He didn’t stop, hurtling through the hole in the fence, over the hill, and back into the city.

 

Back to Amber’s home. The only home he had left.


	6. 006

Junhong huddled in front of Amber’s apartment door for what seemed like hours. It was a nice day, which seemed so ironic compared to his situation. When Amber finally did return home, she was carrying a plastic convenience store bag. Upon seeing him, her first action was to scoop him up.

 

“Hey boy, there you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” she exclaimed. “Where the hell have you been, huh?”

 

“You were there too, so wouldn’t you know,” he muttered, which only came out as a low meow to Amber’s ears.

 

She just scratched the back of his ear and opened her apartment door. She set him down at the entrance before she kicked off her shoes and deposited the bag on her kitchen counter.

 

“Hey boy, you’re probably hungry, huh? Let’s get you something to eat,” she called.

 

Junhong’s stomach growled almost on cue, and he suddenly remembered that he had not eaten at all since he’d left her apartment the previous day. He was starving.

 

“Oh thank god, I thought I was gonna starve or something,” he said.

 

Amber opened a tuna can and placed in on the floor, and Junhong immediately got to work on it, not caring that he still considered it degrading to eat from the floor.

 

She crouched next to him, gently petting him as he ate, which he found oddly pleasant.

 

“Y’know…” she started. “I never actually gave you a name. Henry was on my case yesterday when we were looking for you cuz of it. I guess I should probably give you a name, huh? I mean, if you came back, that probably means you’ve decided you like me and want to stay, right?” She thought for a moment. “How about Zelo? That’s a cool name, right?”

 

Junhong stilled two thoughts crossing his mind.

 

First, she would never know how much he’d actually liked her as a human. Now he would be stuck with “liking” her as a pet would an owner.

 

Second, he was staying. That meant he was accepting the fact that this would be a permanent thing. Could he really accept that? Maybe for now. Perhaps later on they would find some way to reverse the gene manipulation.

 

He decided that he would go back to the facility every so often to check for himself if anything had changed. Now that he had a vague idea of how to get around the place. Granted, finding anything else out was a whole different issue altogether. But he’d think on that when the time came.

 

For now, he supposed that his best option was to enjoy life as a cat.

 

It was comfortable, albeit maybe a little boring at times. But he’d make do.

 

Life was going to be very different for him from now on.


	7. Epilogue

Amber stared down at the cat curled up on her couch. She’d always wanted a pet to keep her company, though she wasn’t going to lie; she’d wanted a dog originally, like Henry. But now that she had Zelo, she didn’t mind having a cat at all. Not at all.

 

Especially if it meant that she finally had her revenge upon a certain bully at work. She grinned, thinking back a few hours, when she’d met with her uncle at his lab on the outskirts of town.

 

Amber was in the middle of cooking lunch when her phone rang. Upon seeing who it was, she quickly turned off the stove and answered.

 

“Hi, did you get anything?” she demanded.

 

“Slow down, Josie. He’s here. Lost, according to the tracker, but he’ll be down here eventually. You may want to head on over now,” the person on the other line responded.

 

“’Kay, I’ll be there soon,” she replied.

 

Ending the call, she looked down at her half-made food with a sigh. So much for ramen. At least she hadn’t put the water in the bowl yet.

 

She ran to get her wallet before leaving the apartment. As she drove out of the parking lot, she ran thee plan through her head multiple times. It had to go flawlessly for this to work.

 

It was a twenty-minute drive to her destination, her uncle’s lab on the outskirts of town. As she approached the gated fence, her uncle called her again.

 

“Hey, just in time. I just got here. Open the gates, will you?” she said upon answering.

 

“What do you mean you’re outside? I told you that outsiders aren’t-“

 

“Uh, you told me to come?” Amber said, before realizing the situation. “He’s there, isn’t he?” She laughed. “Uncle, you’re bad at acting.”

 

“AMBER JOSEPHINE LIU. Did you really have to crash through the fence?!” Amber winced, not expecting the outburst.

 

“You do realize that crashing through the gate is not in my character, right? Whatever, just open the gates,” she said, rolling her eyes. It seemed her uncle was having too much fun with this.

 

She hung up as the gated fence opened, followed by the main gate. Parking the car, she was met by her uncle’s assistant, who led her through the maze to the elevators, then to her uncle’s office.

 

As the assistant left, her uncle’s gaze flickered to the coffee table in front of his desk, then back to her. So that’s where he was hiding.

 

Smirking, she crossed her arms and began her charade.

 

“Did you do something to Junhong?” she demanded.

 

The rest went quite smoothly, and eventually her uncle got up, saying, “Come on, I want to show you something.”

 

She got up and followed him out of the room and to another office down the hallway in the opposite direction of the exit. There, he pulled out his tablet, which showed a detailed map of the lab, and a small red dot that was resting in the room they had just left. Soon, said red dot started moving, and before long it was outside the lab and moving steadily back towards town.

 

Amber looked up at her uncle and grinned. “So is it part of protocol to put a tracker in all of the volunteers?” she asked.

 

“As a matter of fact, yes it is,” he responded. “We need to monitor them at all times, after all.”

 

She hummed, before asking, “So, is there really no way to reverse the gene manipulation?”

 

Her uncle scoffed. “Do you think we’d test on human being without being sure that we could reverse the effects? Of course it’s possible. Why do you think we don’t have any stray animals in the lab? You’d have at least heard them by now,” he said.

 

She blinked for a second, then laughed. “Wow, now I almost feel sorry for him.”

 

He quirked his eyebrow, before saying, “I mean, whenever you’re done with him, you can always just bring him back and we’ll reverse the effects. He’ll get a memory wipe, as usual, so he won’t remember how he got back.”

 

“Yeah yeah. Anyways, I gotta go. I was in the middle of making lunch when you called.” She stood up to leave, before adding, “What’s a good name for a cat?”

 

Her uncle stared at her for a second. “Beats me. Go look up some random word in the dictionary and translate it to some other language or something. Latin is always a good choice, in my opinion,” he replied.

 

Amber sighed, before turning on her heel and leaving.

 

Everything after that had gone smoothly.

 

A vicious smile appeared on her face, though it quickly faded as the cat on her couch stirred awake. She picked him up and placed him on her lap, scratching him behind the ear, enjoying the purrs that rumbled through his body.

 

Life was going to be very different for them from now on.


End file.
